Posted on 13/07/22
As I write this, it’s mid July and a recent heatwave is threatening to melt the UK.
If there’s ever been a time for an ice cold craft beer, it’s now.
So have a read at what’s just out and feel free to load up on anything that takes your fancy.
We all know US beers are still the best in the world, and we all know New York is where you get the best beers in the US, and that’s exactly where you’ll find Evil Twin. So it makes sense that Evil Twin’s Nose Goes NEIPA is, frankly, next-level hoppy brewing.
This is one for serious, serious, serious hop heads – think Mike Tyson punching you repeatedly for ten rounds straight while wearing gloves made of citra and tropical galaxy.
Despite the punch, this is brewed with such expertise that you can genuinely pick out the lemon, the mango and the pine resin individually.
The added thickness that’s characteristic of stateside NEIPAs gives this yet more clout.
Make no mistake, this is a juggernaut, and if there’s one beer on your hitlist this week, let this be it!
Elsewhere in hop-town, Sureshot hit back this week with four bangin new beers that continue the brewery’s upwards trajectory.
You can do no wrong by cracking open any, but the one I’m loving is the cheeky 4.2% Skip To The End Pale Ale – a tropical ‘nebula’ full of starry soft peachy clusters and passionfruit zing is what the tasting notes say.
They’re spot on, too – this is just a wicked summer beer.
Only £4.70 a can, get involved!
In the same way Sureshot are on the up and up, so too are Manchester’s Pomona Island, whose new beers seem to sell out faster than we can restock them at the minute.
There’s now a Pale and WCIPA just in, but it’s their new Conjuration Of Masques Double IPA that really steals the show.
It’s an 8%, 4-hop mega combo that spans the flavour spectrum delivering everything from juicy orange to white grape and gooseberry with a sprinkle of subtle coconut as a nod to the tropics.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Double IPA is where it’s at!
Finally on the hop front this week, Elusive’s Oregon Trail WCIPA is considered the king of all WCIPAs… so when I saw they’d released another in The Lost Stars WC IPA I was all over it.
The beer is more or less already sold out, but if you happen to get lucky and read this early enough do yourself a favour and grab a can…
Then let the elderflower, gooseberry, passionfruit and lemon become the highlight of what’s going to be a glorious, sunny weekend.
And it’s the new smoothie sours just in from Evil Twin providing the goods, and which one you go for really depends on what you like most.
There’s a killer flavour combo of blackberry, strawberry and sour apricot in Dumb J.R.E.A.M. Sour, but the peanut butter failed to win me over.
The Dumb Fruit 18: Watermelon, Raspberry, Passion Fruit, Coconut Candy Slices, though? Now that is a fruit smoothie sour I could just drink again, and again, and again and again.
Then there’s the wildcard in Root Beer Float, which sounds horrid on paper, but which boasts an impressive flavour profile of spices, vanilla and whipped cream. Still on the fence. OK. This beer has a 4.25 rating on Untappd. Yeah, you want it now don’t you?!
My honest advice is to collect the whole, outstanding set.
Tonnes of you have been asking for fruited beers lately, and there are few breweries who do fruited stuff better than Yonder, so I hit them up this week to see what they were canning.
They came back with the outstanding Fruit Salad Peach, Strawberry & Citrus Pastry Sour.
Blended juicy fruits in a beer that’s equal parts sweet and sour.
Yonder also came back with the pudding-in-a-glass Peach Melba Pastry Sour, whose peach-and-sweet-vanilla combo makes for a creamy peach pudding in a glass.
If you’re in the market for fruited beers, Yonder Brewing & Blending is where it’s at.
Maltgarden, the internationally acclaimed Polish powerhouse who brew world-famous dessert stouts, mad sours and hoppy beers that rival the likes of Verdant and Track, are coming to Craft Metropolis on the 26th July!
And we want all you beer lovers to come along!
Tickets are £16 and include 4 servings of some Maltgarden epics, plus a guided tasting with brewing royalty Łukasz Rokicki. You’ll also get to meet like-minded beer lovers, including me, Olly and Charlie, and generally have a decent night out. We’d love to meet you if you’re up for the pilgrimage – this is an event beer lovers will love!
Just 30 tickets available – don’t hang about.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these immense new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
